The Art of Rapid Transition: a series of talks and workshops

A series of talks and workshops about change and making it happen

The climate is changing faster than we are, but a growing number of people around the world are ready and willing to change.

Inspired by Swedish Activist Greta Thunberg, school climate strikes have spread around the globe, the Extinction Rebellion movement has captured the public imagination, inspiring local councils and governments to declare a climate emergency.

As momentum for rapid transition in response to ecological and social challenges grows, this series of talks and workshops, brought to you by Transition Town Totnes,Schumacher College and the Dartington Hall Trust, and supported by Devon County Council, will provide the opportunity to explore how we can come together to make a transition that meets the needs of people and the planet, locally and globally.

Drawing on a range of visiting tutors from Schumacher College, the series takes a holistic approach to rapid change - exploring ideas, models and solutions around values, economics, food, art, politics, culture and more - and aims to equip you with fresh skills, inspiration and approaches to come together and make change happen where we are.

Each event will be participatory, opening with a short talk and Q&A with our guest speaker who will introduce the topic for the evening and offer their perspective. Together we’ll then explore how we can take action in our communities, work lives and places by applying ideas, principles and approaches from what we’ve heard. After each event, you’re invited to continue the conversation over a drink in a local pub.

These events are for everyone who wants to create a socially and ecologically fairer world. Listen, take part, share your ideas and take action.

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Programme

Changing Climate at Work: How to Talk about the Climate Crisis at Work and Make Change Happen
with Robin Webster, Climate Outreach22nd October 2019, 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Totnes United Free Church, Fore Street

Suddenly it seems as though everyone is talking about climate change. Talk isn’t enough, of course, but how we talk about climate change can fundamentally transform the possibility of action. This workshop, with climate communications specialist Robin Webster from Climate Outreach, will equip you with tools, techniques and understanding to bring conversations about climate change into your workplace in ways that resonate with people’s values and inspire transformation.

Booking essential. £8 full price/£5 low-waged. There are a limited number of fully subsidised tickets for this event - please email info@transitiontowntotnes.org for information.

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Changing Culture: How Culture Can Catalyse a Values Revolution
with Tom Crompton, Common Cause Foundation26th November 2019, 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Totnes United Free Church, Fore Street

We tend to lose hope in the potential for change because we don’t believe other people care. Groundbreaking research by the Common Cause Foundation found that most people actually care deeply about one another and the world around them, often valuing equality, compassion and kindness highly. This workshop with co-founder of the Common Cause Foundation, Tom Crompton, will show you appealing to people’s self interest can undermine change and how everyday encounters can bring the kindness, compassion and care needed for rapid transition out in the open.

Booking opens one month prior to the event.

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Changing Finance: Banking for a Just Transition - Creating a Community Bank for the South West
with Tony Greenham, South West Mutual30th January 2020, 7.30pm to 9.30pm, Methodist Church, Totnes

“This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it weren’t happy for pretty much all of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Money is not the problem. Where we have failed is in the right use of money. And people, even bankers, don’t set out to trash the planet and their own communities when they arrive at work in the morning. And yet, in general, global banking institutions have funded ecological destruction, caused economic injustice and done little to preserve social fabric.

So what kind of new institutions do we need to ensure that money flows through our communities to where it’s needed to regenerate our local economies and ecological systems, enhance wellbeing and promote social justice? Tony Greenham, co-founder of South West Mutual, will explain how and why local mutual mission-led banking can change the world for good.

Booking opens one month prior to the event.

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Changing Economics: Action Planning for Living in the Doughnut
with Kate Raworth, Doughnut Economics31st March 2020, 7.30pm to 9.30pm at Totnes United Free Church, Fore Street

We know that we need to transform the way we live if we are to prevent climate and ecological breakdown, but we need to make sure that the transformation is socially just. This workshop with renegade economist and author of Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth, will explore planetary limits and social foundations and kick start action planning for your community that will help catalyse the transition to an ecologically sustainable, and socially just world. Get it right, and there might still be time to learn to live in the doughnut.

Booking opens one month prior to the event.

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More talks and workshops coming up, including:

Changing Politics: How we can come together to transform politics where we are Guest Speaker: Laura Roth, Barcelona en Comu